syncdat Client

The syncdat client is a command line program which can be run in a unix shell, Windows Command Console, or macOS Terminal Window. It can also be embedded in shell scripts or batch files.

Failure to use SyncDat correctly can result in extreme data loss!
While you are learning to use syncdat, always test each operation in Safe Mode to verify that syncdat will do what you expect.

SyncDat operates on one directory tree hosted on the local workstation, and one directory tree hosted on a remote servedat server. It can perform three types of operations:

Local Master: Only the remote directory is changed to make it identical to the local directory.

syncdat -n -l localpath user@example.com:remotepath

Remote Master: Only the local directory is changed to make it identical to the remote directory.

syncdat -n -r localpath user@example.com:remotepath

Peer Mode: The two directories are compared and changes may be made to both of them to make them the same.

syncdat -n -P localpath user@example.com:remotepath

Syntax for Reserved Characters in Pathnames

Pathnames which include spaces must be quoted according to the rules of the command shell.

Local absolute paths (arguments starting with a volume specifier or "\" for Windows and "/" for all other systems) may include any characters allowed by the operating system and command shell.

The at sign '@' denotes separation of a username and hostname. To specify a local relative path containing an at sign, prefix the path with ".\" for Windows or "./" for all other systems. To specify a remote path containing an at sign without specifying a username, prefix the host name with an at sign.

The equals sign '=' denotes an object handler action code. Legacy syntax allows this to appear after the remote pathname. To specify a remote path containing an equals sign, place an equal sign just before the colon, creating a "blank" action code.

Following is an example remote master run in which both the local and remote paths contain spaces, equal signs, and at signs:

syncdat -n -r "./this = my speci@l file" "@example.com+8081=:my = speci@l file"

Windows and Unicode

All text generated by syncdat itself, including prompts, error messages, and directory listings, uses UTF-8 character encoding. When running syncdat in a Windows console, non-ASCII characters may not display correctly unless you take the following steps:

Set the console code page to UTF-8 by typing: chcp 65001
Set the console font to a true-type font such as Lucida Console

See the Unicode section for more information about unicode character encoding.

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